Don't Be Irrational
by Your Lady of Discord
Summary: What you were doing in there was, was, was completely disgusting, Malfoy" "Would you like to see EXACTLY what I was doing? I can give you a first hand demonstartion if you like, Granger." R&R as always.
1. Chapter One

**Don't Be Irrational**

**By: Acrophobia1322**

**Chapter One**

Hermione tossed and turned on her bed and then opened her eyes slowly to look up at the ceiling. She sighed heavily and rolled over onto her side to look at her alarm clock. 5:32 AM. Not nearly the time she wanted to wake up. It was almost a whole half an hour before she'd wanted to wake up but she did. She sat up on her bed and looked around in the muffling darkness of the Ginny's room in the Burrow. She then turned off her alarm clock, which she had insisted on bringing, and put it away in her trunk.

Ginny, who had been lying in the bed beside Hermione's, stirred and groaned but did not wake. Hermione shook her head slightly, smiling, and then began pulling clothing out of her trunk. She settled for a baby blue t-shirt, a pair of faded jeans, and a pink sweater with Hermione Granger embroidered over the left breast. She dressed and was pulling her socks on when she heard a '_thunk'_ from beside her and Ginny's groaning. Hermione looked over and saw Ginny's head popping up from the other side of the bed.

"Morning, Gin," said Hermione, trying hard to repress her giggles but doing very badly. Ginny noticed.

"Oh, ha ha," murmured Ginny sarcastically. "That's the third time I've done that lately. What time is it?"

"5:45," replied Hermione.

"It's too early…" yawned Ginny, groggily getting to her feet. "Where are you going this early?"

"For a walk," Hermione said, "to clear my thoughts."

"Still on about 'It's the last year of school' thing?"

"Yeah," Hermione replied half-heartedly. "Well, I'll be back in time for breakfast."

Hermione left the room and started down the winding staircase. She yawned a little as she entered the den and looked around for a sign of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. She found Mr. Weasley relaxing at the kitchen table, reading the paper. He looked up when he caught sight of Hermione out of the corner of his eye.

"Good morning, Hermione," he called. "It's a little early, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes, Mr. Weasley," she replied. "I was going to go for a walk before breakfast though. Today is the day we're catching the Hogwarts Express and everything."

"That's right! And you'll be Head Girl this year!" he said. "Quite an honor. Not that Molly and I didn't know you wouldn't be Head Girl." Hermione's faced turned slightly red. "It's a pity that Ron didn't get Head Boy, though. Of well, I suppose. You're as good as family."

"Thanks Mr. Weasley," said Hermione breathlessly. "Well…I guess I'll be back soon."

"Alright," Mr. Weasley replied. "Be back in time for breakfast." Hermione nodded and left.

It was true. Hermione, along with Ron and Harry and all of her friends, was going into her seventh and last year at Hogwarts. Hermione had become Head Girl but neither Ron nor Harry had become Head Boy, which put out Ron slightly but Harry merely shrugged it off, having not been picked to be a prefect in earlier years. Hermione had read over the letter that had been sent with her badge describing all her duties. The only thing that really disturbed her was the last paragraph of the letter, which read:

_Head Boy and Girl are expected to share a common room. Dormitories, however, will be separate. The large, spacious bathroom, which you will also share, connects the two bedrooms. Locks will be provided and are charmed not to accept the _alohomora (sp?) _charm. We hope this will be a pleasant experience for all._

That was all. No mention of who the Head Boy was whatsoever, yet they expected Hermione to live in close quarters with him. The thought made her shiver. '_Let's hope that the Head Boy is someone from Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw…because if it is from Slytherin…it's obvious _who _it would be.'_

_Meanwhile…_

Draco rolled over in his bed and yawned, opening his eyes slowly and letting his eyes adjust to the light, or rather, the lack of it. Indeed, his room was dark. The large window that led to the huge balcony was covered by thick, black, velvet curtains. His bed was a King-size 4-poster, adorned with black satin hangings. His comforter and silk blanket followed the color scheme of the room, both being black as well, though the blanket was embroidered with a serpent.

Draco yawned once more and tried to get back to sleep but found it quite impossible. He finally gave into his sleeplessness and flung his legs over the side of his bed, which came a good four feet of the ground, and jumped down, onto the cold, black marble flooring. He shivered at the sensation and then moved over to his closet. He pushed the doors open and pulled out a black turtleneck and black slacks, and then threw his usual black robe over it. After gelling up his hair as usual, he grabbed his Head Boy badge and fixed it very neatly to the front of his robes.

He straightened up and started for the large, willow doors, pushing them open, and starting down the hallway, his black shoes clacking against the dark marble flooring. He headed down three flights of stairs, greeted by portraits of several deceased Malfoys, including the portrait of Lucius.

"Son," Lucius's picture grunted stiffly. Draco paused in front and smirked at his father.

"Father," he replied. They nodded to one another and Draco continued down the stairs, rolling his eyes in a bored fashion.

Soon, Draco reached the dining room and entered, looking at his mother whom was sitting at the end of a _very _long table. Draco sat at the other end and soon began eating and picking at the fruit and yogurt that was in the bowl before him.

"Good morning, Draco," greeted Mrs. Malfoy. The sound of her voice to Draco was as if she was right there next to him, but that was not uncommon as it was an enchanted dining hall.

"Good morning, mother," Draco replied with very little interest.

They finished breakfast in silence and then Draco checked the clock in the lobby. She sighed when he saw that it was 10:30 AM. He watched as his mother pulled on her coat. She then guided her only son over to a fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo power, and threw it in. Draco stepped forth into the green flames and, in a mechanical voice, said "Platform 9 ¾." He waited a second and enjoyed the flames licking at his body before he stumbled, rather gracefully if there ever was a graceful stumble, out onto the platform, his mother close behind him.

The conductor took his trunk and he made his way for the train. He stopped to examine those who had arrive already and scoffed when he saw Harry Potter and Ron and Ginny Weasley talking in a group by the Weasley adults. He cocked an eyebrow curiously when he noticed that Hermione was not with them. After he had examined the platform rather meticulously and found no sign of a glittering gold badge with the initials of _Head Girl _on it, he entered the train and headed down the train corridor. He stopped, however, when he heard a retching sound coming from the nearby lavatory. He looked at the door and noticed it was ajar and a foot was sticking out. He pushed it open slightly and looked in to find Hermione on her knees before the toilet, vomiting in.

"Well, well," he drawled and Hermione flinched. Draco smirked his normal, arrogant smirk. "Look what kind of position I've found our little mudblood in."

Draco watched at Hermione tried to draw herself deeper into the bathroom. She brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and then looked up at him. She was pale and her hair was mussed. She looked tired. She stood up and started to move toward Draco.

"Woah, Granger," he snapped. "Don't you even think of vomiting on me!"

Hermione made an angry face, grabbed the door handle to the lavatory, and slammed it in his face. Draco, however, had noticed something gleaming on Hermione's chest and groaned. 'She's_ Head Girl?' _

Hermione whimpered and tumbled back in front of the toilet, vomiting again and gripping the side of the toilet as if she were afraid it was going to suck her in. After she was all vomited out, she flushed the toilet, and rested her head on one of the walls. She took a breath mint, which she had "conveniently" bought at a muggle gas station, and popped it into her mouth before wiping any signs of vomit from her face, spraying some sweet perfume on her body, and fixing her hair. She stood up and dusted off her clothes. She was going to exit the lavatory when suddenly, the train jerked and she toppled backward onto a wall. The train and started to leave the platform.

She finally managed to leave enclosed space and started checking the compartments for Ron or Harry. After several failed attempts ("Lavender! Seamus! That is _very _un-student-like behavior! Get off each other!"), she finally found Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna Lovegood sitting in a compartment together.

"Room for one more," said Ron with a smile.

"There had better be," Hermione joked, sitting next to Ginny and across from Neville.

"Where were you, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Girls' lavatory," she said automatically. No one thought twice.

"You smell nice, 'Mione," commented Ginny. "Smells like jasmine."

"Oh, that's my new perfume," Hermione replied.

"I can smell it all the way over here," said Ron, who was sitting by the window, the furthest away from Hermione. "Did you bathe in it? Are you trying to impress someone?"

"Of course not! It's just strong is all! I only sprayed myself twice," Hermione blurted, rather quickly. "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" asked Harry, watching as Hermione opened the door.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" snapped Ron. Hermione looked up and indeed, there was Draco, standing with his hand poised to open the door.

"Nothing from _you, _Weasel," returned Draco, just as harsh. "I'm here to see Granger."

"Me?" Hermione asked, looking suspicious.

"Yes, _you,_ Granger," he drawled. "You're Head Girl, are you not?"

"Yes, I am," Hermione replied. "Why would that be of any importance to—Oh, _no_! You can't be—"

"I bloody well can, and I am!" he smirked, puffing out his chest and exposing the badge with the initials _HB._

"Bloody hell! They chose you! They could've had _me _but they chose you?" Harry snapped, getting to his feet.

"Maybe they thought you were a little too much of an over-achiever, Potty!" Draco retorted. "Besides, I've got second best marks in this school, so I deserve it."

"Yeah, second to Hermione," Ron grunted, twisting his little finger in his ear as if cleaning it. Hermione's face turned slightly pink and she grabbed the sleeve of Draco's robe.

"Let's go before there's a row," she started and dragged the platinum blonde out of the compartment, making sure to the door.

"Don't touch me, mudblood," he snapped, prying her fingers off his robes.

"Listen, Malfoy," she growled, shoving her finger in his face. "I won't put up with you this year! If I have to live with you, I won't be afraid to be drastic when push comes to shove! Now, let's go to this meeting with the prefects because I won't be responsible if something goes wrong because we weren't there to instruct them!"

"Now, you listen, Granger!" Draco yelled, striding in-step beside Hermione. "You won't boss me around this year! I won't have any of that! Remember your place, mudblood, and we'll see if we can come to an agreement!"

He pushed the door open and Hermione's mouth, which had been open and ready to screech a protest back at Draco, snapped shut. She looked and saw eight prefects sitting in seats surrounding the Head Boy's seat and the Head Girl's seat. Hermione sat down and Draco, reluctantly, took the seat beside her. She folded her arms over her chest and surveyed the lot. All, except for the Slytherins of course, were staring rather wearily at Draco. Hermione cleared her throat and all eyes were on her, though two pairs of them looked mutinous (Slytherins again).

"Well, we are, unfortunately, the Heads, as it is obvious from our badges," Hermione announced.

"Obviously," murmured Draco and Hermione shot him a look that could kill.

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but you, being prefects, have specific obligations and privileges. Please be fair in using your rights as prefects," Hermione explained. "If you don't, you will be forced to surrender your badge and prefect duties to us. You will officially be out of the running for Head Boy or Head Girl in your seventh year. Understood?"

A Slytherin prefect, Hazel Redbee, raised her hand. "Mr. Malfoy, do we really have to take orders from _her _this year?" she asked, pointing a pale, bony finger at Hermione, whose eyebrows raised.

"Unfortunately, since she does have the power, yes, you do," Draco replied. Hermione glared at him. Both of the Slytherin prefects groaned.

"Well, this meeting is over," Hermione said. "You're to do rounds once every three hours after classes and at least five times on weekends. While you're on Hogwarts Express, you are required to do your rounds at least twice. Anyone one seen shirking their duties will be suspended as a prefect and have house points taken. You may go back to your compartments if you wish, or you may remain here."

Hermione got to her feet and started for the compartment door. She was about to leave when she stopped and looked at Draco with narrowed eyes. He smirked at her.

"I won't have any of your…egotistical nonsense this year, Malfoy! I mean it," she snapped.

"And I won't have any of _you _bossy bookworm-ness this year, either, mudblood," he smirked and chuckled maliciously when she slammed the door and stomped off down the corridor toward her own compartment.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Hermione huffed as she looked up at the tapestry leading the way to the Heads' common room. The tapestry depicted herself and Malfoy, both much older. They had their backs to each other looking rather peeved. Older Hermione looked ready to beat him up and Older Draco, looking more arrogant than ever, had his arms cross over his chest. Hermione wanted to punch the portrait Draco as well but kept herself maintained.

"Password?" asked her portrait self, finally noticing Hermione standing there.

"Before I give that, is that git in there?"

"The younger Mr. Malfoy?" the portrait asked. "Yes, yes. It's somewhat hard not to know that. When you get inside, you'll understand."

Draco had left the feast early, claiming to have a stomach ache, and several of the Slytherins had left out of pure boredom, thought several had been missing anyway, since the end of the Dark War had taken both them and their families lives, whereas some of them had been dragged away to Azkaban after the Dark Lord's demise. Hermione sighed in irritation.

"All right…" she murmured. "_Meteorum memoradius_."

The tapestry folded up and exposed a well list staircase. Hermione put her foot on the top stair and the tapestry rolled down behind her. She was halfway down the stairs when she stopped. She thought she heard something but it was gone almost immediately. She continued down the stairs and stopped dead when she was in the common room. It was decorated in gold and silver. The couches and armchairs by the fire were scarlet and green and there were several tables and portraits to be found here and there. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and the light reflecting from the glassy decoration was giving the room a mystical look.

It was not the beauty of the room, however, that had halted Hermione. It was the noise coming from Draco's room…or what was presumably Draco's room. Loud moans and cries could be from behind a large oak door that had been carved to have a serpent designed on the front. Hermione rubbed her temple, flicked her wand, and put a silencing charm on the door. She then retreated to her room and looked around.

Everything that had been in her trunk had been put away. There was a large, king-sized, canopy bed in a corner by the window. The blanket on the bed was made out of crimson satin and the pillows were a velvety gold. Gold and red hangings surrounded the bed, which came a good three feet from the ground. She went over and climbed up onto it. She buried her face in the pillows and then took another look around. On the opposite side of her room was a bookcase, which was filled with old and new looking books. Beside the bookcase was a full-length mirror. On the other side of the room, near another door that was carved to depict a waterfall, which presumably led to the lavatory, was her dresser. It was tall and had a closet built in with drawers below it. Hermione rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Mmm…enchanted to look like the night sky," she murmured and closed her eyes for a moment. She relaxed into the bed and then rolled over drowsily. "No…must stay awake."

She pushed herself off the bed and moved over to her dresser, pulling out some conservative, purple pajamas that hung loosely on her body and had little flowers all over them. She dragged them, and her body, into the bathroom. She locked all three doors so that neither Draco nor his "guest" could get in. She then looked around. The bathroom was beautiful. The floor was black marble and walls were white. Two faucets adorned opposite walls: one by Draco's door and one by Hermione. There was a shower in on corner and two stalls next to the faucets that obviously held toilets. She slumped over to the pool-sized tub, much like the one in the prefects' bathroom, and turned on the faucet, filling the tub with warm water and experimenting with the other taps.

_Meanwhile…_

Draco rolled off Pansy, panting heavily and sweating. She was smiling broadly and he was wiping sweat from his brow. He rested his head in the pillow and looked at her.

"You should get back to the Slytherin common room," he drawled, rather weakly. "I need to take care of something." He sat up on his bed and reach for a pair of silver, satin boxers that lay strewn, with several other garments of clothing on his bed.

Pansy grabbed her clothes and dressed quickly. She relaxed on his bed and bit then rolled over and kissed Draco roughly on the lips. He didn't return it. She buried her face in his pillow and inhaled, grinning broadly. Draco perked up his ear and listened. There was utter silence.

"Pansy, on second thought, go out into the hall, close my door, and yell as loud as you can," he said.

"Okay, Drakie," she said automatically, slinging her body off the bed and heading for the door. She closed it behind herself as she stepped out into the common room. With as much force as she could must, she shrieked.

Hermione, who had been reclining in the tub, choked after inhaling water by accident and popped her head out of the tub, spluttering. She grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her body, and threw the bathroom door open. Standing outside Draco room, was Pansy, wailing at the top of her lungs. Hermione clamped her hands over her ears, dropping the towel. Soon Draco opened his door and peeked out, also clamping his hands over his ears as the sound flooded in. Hermione slammed the door shut.

"_Silencio_!" she cried, pointing her wand at the door. Soon, there was silence and she jumped back into the tub after locking the door again.

"Just as I thought," called Draco, making Pansy silence. "That mudblood must have put a silencing charm on my room when she came in. Go back to the Slytherin common room now, Pansy. I'll deal with _her._"

"All right," Pansy replied, rubbing her throat. "Good night, Drakie. If you need me again, you know where to find me." With that, Pansy strode out of the common room and raced down to the dungeons.

Hermione finished her bath and dressed in her pajamas after charming her hair dry. She emptied the tub and left the bathroom after unlocking all of the doors. She grabbed a book from the shelf in her room and retreated to the common room, sitting on a crimson couch and starting to read. She wasn't past the third page when Draco's door opened and he stepped out.

"I should've guessed it was Pansy," Hermione said, not looking up from her book. "I don't care who you bed, but at least put a silencing charm on your room if you're going to do that sort of thing. I'm sure the whole school heard you, she was shrieking so loud."

"I don't think I will," Draco drawled.

"What?" questioned Hermione, looking up at him and arching a brow.

"I don't think I will put a silencing charm on my room if I have visitors," he smirked. "It's nice to know you're getting so much discomfort from it."

"I could easily put a silencing charm on my room if you won't on yours," Hermione stated, looking back at the test she was reading. "It's not much of a problem. I'd rather hear nothing than retch at the sounds of your sexual exhibitions."

"Speaking thus," Draco interjected, "I've been meaning to ask, why _were _you vomiting on the train this morning?"

"None of your business," Hermione growled warningly.

"Could it be that out little bushy-haired bookworm is _expecting? _Which of your little boyfriends is it? Weasel? Potty? Or maybe it's even Longbottom!" laughed Draco.

"Watch it, Malfoy!" Hermione snapped, slamming her book closed and waving it threateningly.

"Or is it some muggle's?" _WHAM!_ The thick book Hermione had been reading connected with Draco's face. It fell to the floor with a thump and Hermione stood up.

Draco had a bloody nose, which he was holding with both hands. Hermione went over to him, snatched up her book, and waved it ominously at him again. He recoiled slightly but Hermione merely passed him by and retreated to her room, slamming the door behind her. Draco let go of his nose and looked at his bloodied hands. He retreated to the bathroom and grabbed a tissue, dabbing his nose and waiting for the bleeding to stop, which it eventually did. He tossed his tissue in a wastebasket and glared at Hermione's door. He stomped over and threw the door open, stepping inside.

"Mudblood—" but he stopped when he saw her.

She was couched in a fetal position in the corner of her bed, looking small and unwanted. She was quivering with silent sobs. She was rocking back and forth. Suddenly, a gold pillow hit Draco in the face and Hermione was glaring at him, wiping her eyes.

"Get out!" she yelled.

"Granger, I—"

"I SAID, GET OUT!" she screeched at the top of her lungs, reaching for her book again. Draco saw this, retreated back into the bathroom and shut the door, just in time to hear the book hitting the wood of the door.

"Crazy bitch," he murmured before returning to his room.

Hermione continued to cry into her knees. The truth was that she was sad because it was her last year at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . Many possibilities of what could happen after the year was over kept flashing through her head. Most likely Ron and Harry would go into auror training and Hermione would start a career as a professor or work at Flourish and Blotts. She sighed and rested her head on her pillow, burying her face in the soft velvet. It wasn't long before she dozed off.

Draco showered and returned to his room, the smell of him and Pansy wasn't yet gone and with a wave of his wand, there was a slight breeze blowing through his room. Soon the scent was gone and he relaxed. She rested his gel-less head on his black pillow and closed his eyes. He was just about to sleep when there was a knock at his door. He rolled weakly off his bed and slumped over to the door. He took the handle and pulled it open slowly. There, standing in the doorway, was Lucius Malfoy.

"Son," he greeted, as his portrait had that morning.

"Father?" asked Draco. "Back from Transylvania?"

"Yes, it was quite nice," Lucius replied.

"Why are you here?" Draco asked.

"Just for a visit, since I missed your departure this morning," Draco's father explained. "You are, after all, my son. So, Draco, who is the Head Girl?"

"Hermione Granger, father."

"That mudblood? What a pity. She's treated you well? Not been dishonorable toward you?" Lucius asked, arching an expectant eyebrow.

Draco thought for a moment of telling his father of the incident on the train and in the common room.

"No, father," he said instead, "she's kept her place."

"Perhaps she is growing then," Lucius murmured. "Well, that's all, son. Keep me informed about your year as Head Boy and my father and I'll be in touch."

"Yes, father," Draco droned and watched his father floo from the fireplace in the common room.

Draco then rolled his eyes and scratched at his arm. He looked down and glared at the Dark Mark printed on his arm. Sometimes it still burned and reminded him that it was there and that he shouldn't forget about his past. He merely scratched it and waited for the burning sensation to subside before returning to his room and going to bed.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Hermione opened her eyes slowly the next morning. She rubbed her head slightly, pushed the hangings aside from her bed, and jumped down onto the carpet. She moved slower than usual, as she was still rather groggy. She opened her dresser and pulled out her pleated gray skirt, white blouse, gray sweater-vest, white stockings, and her black school robes. After she was finished getting dressed, she took her Gryffindor tie and Head Girl badge off the bedside table and put them on before slipping her shoes on her feet. She ran a brush through her bushy hair, rubbed the rest of the sleep from her eyes, and entered the bathroom. She could hear the shower running on Draco's "side" of the bathroom but ignored it. She walked over to her faucet and started brushing her teeth.

"Well, well," drawled Draco, "goody-goody Granger finally decides to present herself. Couldn't you wait until after I was done in the shower, or did you want to see me in all my glory?"

"Sod off, Malfoy," Hermione snapped in reply after spitting out the toothpaste into her sink. "I still have that book in my room if you want another bloody nose."

"Well, aren't we touchy lately?" Draco smirked. "That time of the month, mudblood?"

"Shut it, Malfoy!" Hermione yelled, slamming her toothbrush on the sink. "I've already had enough of you and it's only been one day so shove off and leave me the hell alone!"

Hermione walked back into her room and slammed the door, sighing irritably. She walked over to her trunk, which was sitting beside the dresser and opened it, taking her bag, books, quills, and ink out. She stuffed all of her supplies into the bag and left the dormitory, heading down to breakfast. She entered the Great Hall and found Harry, Ron and Ginny all sitting near the front. She huffily strode over to them, set her bag down roughly, and plopped into the seat beside Ginny.

"Rough night, 'Mione?" asked Ginny.

"Of nightmarish sorts," groaned Hermione. "I'm about ready to kill Malfoy and have absolutely no remorse in doing so."

"What happened?" Harry asked, with a spoon sticking out of his mouth.

"Everything…"sighed Hermione and elaborated by giving all the details of their conversation on the train, to the disgusting thing she heard when she walked into her common room, to that very morning. "He's an absolute git…correction: he's an absolutely perverted, arrogant git!" Ginny, Harry, and Ron chuckled.

"Well, I love you too, mudblood," drawled someone, sarcastically, from behind Hermione.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked.

"Once again, nothing from you," Draco replied, turning his gaze to Hermione. "Granger, Dumbledore wants to see us after breakfast."

"How do you know?" Hermione asked. Draco dropped a rolled up piece of parchment in front of her and strode off to his table where he met up with Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise Zabini, and Pansy. Hermione unrolled the parchment and read it quickly, nodding slightly. "He's right. I do have to meet Dumbledore after breakfast."

"Don't we have classes today?" asked Harry, also reading the parchment.

"No," Hermione replied. "All classes were cancelled because the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher never showed. I don't understand why he had to cancel _all _of the classes."

"I'm glad they did!" exclaimed Ron. "Do you realize we'd have had potions first today…_with the Slytherins?"_

"Well, that would be brilliant," grumbled Hermione. "How much Malfoy do I have to see this year!"

"Well, you're Head Girl and he's Head Boy," said Ginny, "so I'd imagine quite a bit. Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine after a little while, 'Mione. Eventually you'll just become numb to him and he'll back off."

"Sure he will," Hermione mumbled, poking at her eggs.

Soon breakfast was over and Hermione and Draco made their way up to the front of the Great Hall where Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape were all waiting. Hermione gulped, feeling a sudden sense of foreboding from her three teachers. She stopped in front of them, with Draco at her side, and waited for one of them to speak up.

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but last night one of the prefects spotted Lucius Malfoy, your father Mr. Malfoy, skulking along one of the corridors of the school. As you know, he is one of the former death eaters," whispered Dumbledore. "I was wondering if, perhaps, either one of you saw him last night." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes lingered on Draco and the platinum blonde Slytherin was sure that the headmaster was speaking almost directly to him.

"No, headmaster," said Hermione and Draco together. Draco had to suppress a sneer at Dumbledore's pensive look.

"The last I heard, headmaster, was that the aurors had my father cornered somewhere in Romania but I haven't heard from him since the end of the Dark War. I don't know where he could be," he lied.

"Well, isn't that a pity," Snape said.

"Of course, of course," rasped Dumbledore. "Well, in any case, I'm asking if you'll please keep your eyes open and do two more rounds than usual to night. If you spot him, then please report to my office and tell me."

"Yes, headmaster," Draco and Hermione said in unison once more before turning to exit the Great Hall.

Hermione was just stepping out the doors when she ran into someone. With a blur of black and brown hair, both bodies tumbled to the floor. Hermione rubbed her head and looked up to see a girl with very long black hair and yellowish-green eyes blinking at her. The looked to be somewhat younger than Hermione.

"Well, Granger," drawled Draco, smirking down, "looks like you are as clumsy as you look after all. Oh, and fix your skirt." He chuckled at Hermione's reddened face as she hurriedly fixed her pleated gray skirt. Draco offered his hand to the other girl. "Let me apologize for my…adversary's cumbersomeness," he drawled. "My name is Draco Malfoy and I don't believe we've met."

"That's because we haven't," replied the other girl in an American accent. "My name is Desdemona Nightingale and my mother is a professor here."

"A professor?" asked Hermione. "The new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

"Why, yes," Desdemona replied, eyeing Hermione snobbishly. "And…you are?"

"Oh, terribly sorry," Hermione choked out. "My name is Hermione Granger. I'm sorry for bumping into you. I was in a hurry to meet up with my friends."

"Er…no problem, I guess," said Desdemona, her nose rather upturned from Hermione. The bushy-haired brunette merely gave an irritable sigh and then continued on her way down the corridor, but not before hearing Desdemona start a conversation with Draco, which began with the words "I'm looking for the Slytherin common room."

Hermione strode up the stairs and head toward the Heads' common room, muttering the password, and striding forward into the room, toward the portrait of the lion that gave easy access to the Gryffindor common room, which she had so quickly found upon exploration of the common room. She sighed heavily and sat down in an armchair next to Ginny, who had been watching Ron and Harry playing a very heated game of Wizard's Chess.

"Oh no," breathed Ginny. "More Malfoy?"

"No, Desdemona," Hermione stated, looking rather put out.

"Who?" asked Ron, looking up just as his bishop snagged Harry's knight.

"Desdemona Nightingale," repeated Hermione, rubbing her head, "the new professor's daughter. Turns out, their Americans and Miss Desdemona is very snobby. Took one look at me and threw her nose up in the air."

"Oh yeah," said Harry, "she sounds very nice. Damn it, Ron! I wasn't even looking!" Harry craned his neck over the board to see where Ron had moved.

"I'll say," murmured Hermione, "and what's more, she was looking for the Slytherin common room. My guess is she met either Pansy or Millicent or she's staying there. Absolutely brilliant! I'm glad this is my last year. Imagine if her mother was the one to last more than one year…I wouldn't be able to _stand_ it!"

_Meanwhile…_

"_This _is Slytherin common room," said Draco, watching Desdemona staring around the room. She picked up a few things and then settled herself in an armchair by the fire.

"Not bad, I guess," she murmured, "but nothing like my home. For a school so large, you'd think the sitting rooms were bigger. I can't even begin to imagine how small the bedrooms are."

"Well, I suppose you'll see soon but I'm not hanging out here," he said, "this isn't even where _I _sleep.""

"Really, where _do _you sleep then?"

"Heads' common room," he replied, starting for the exit of the common room. "Maybe I'll show you around some time, but right now I have…duties to fulfill. Goodbye, fair maiden." He smirked to himself, away from where everyone could see, as he left the common room.

He was coming up into the Entrance Hall when he spotted Hermione reprimanding a Ravenclaw third year, who had been setting dung bombs outside Filch's office. He strode over and the look of unsettledness on the boy's face quickly changed to nervousness. Hermione followed the third years gaze and stood up straight as she saw Draco coming toward her.

"I can handle this," Hermione avowed.

"I'm sure you can, Granger," Draco replied. "I only wanted to watch."

Draco smirked as a look of uneasiness crossed Hermione's face. The thought that he could make Hermione Granger nervous always seemed to please him. She gulped slightly and returned to scolding the boy before her.

"In a few years, you'll understand why this is so wrong," Hermione managed in a slight shaky voice. "Learn from your mistakes. 10 house points from Ravenclaw. Now get out of my sight." She pulled her wand out of her pocket and flicked it at the dung bombs. "_Oblivius._" Within mere seconds, the dung bombs disappeared.

"Was it everything you wanted it to be, Malfoy?" she asked, turning toward him and watching him as he stuck his finger in his ear as if cleaning it.

"Oh yes, Miss Granger," he said in false interest, "it was very enlightening."

"Your enthusiasm moves me," she said sarcastically. "I'm going to the common room."

"And I would care why?" Draco drawled, smirking at her.

"Because—oh—ah—never mind!" she snapped and stomped off up the Grand Staircase. Draco chuckled as he watched her go.

"Quite the annoyance, aren't we, mate?" came a voice from the door leading to the dungeons. Draco looked over and saw Blaise Zabini standing there, smirking. "You just love getting her knickers in a twist."

"Yes, it is a sport I hold the record for," Draco replied, grinning at Blaise. "What are you doing out and about? Knowing you, I would have thought that you would sleep a free day away."

"Does the name 'Desdemona Nightingale' mean anything to you?" Blaise asked and Draco chuckled. "Did you get a look at her! Damn! And they say America has nothing to offer." He whistled and then smirked at Draco. "Where are you of to?"

"Heads' common room, I suppose," Draco replied, "to play yet another game of mudblood infuriating, what else?"

"Well, have fun then," Blaise said, retreating back into the dungeons. "I'm going to do more Mona Gazing."

Draco rolled his eyes and started up the Grand Staircase. He shuffled his feet on the floor and smirked as he reached the tapestry leading to the common room. Older Draco and Older Hermione were in the middle of a loud row, causing several students to stop and stare. Draco rounded on his heel and glared at them.

"Well, what are you looking at? Never seen two portraits screaming at the top of their lungs at each other? Well, go on! Get or I'll deduct house points!" Draco snapped and all of the students who'd gathered around, scattered. Draco smirked and turned back to the tapestry of the two who had suddenly become silent. "_Meteorum memoradius_!"


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

When Draco entered the common room, Hermione was reclining on her couch by the put out fire. She had a book propped up on her chest but looked up from it when she heard him enter. She closed it and stood up, preparing to head to her dormitory.

"No need to leave on my account, Granger," he called as she made a move toward her door. She stopped just as her hand landed on her doorknob.

"Oh, it's not you, Malfoy," she stated, looking back at him, "it's the stink you bring in with you."

"I don't think it's me," Draco drawled. "Perhaps it's the stench that wafts around you from Weasel or Potty. Even Crabbe and Goyle have smelt better than them."

"Don't…" she murmured.

"What, mudblood, I didn't quite hear you," shouted Draco.

"I said," Hermione began, taking a deep breath and screaming the rest of the sentence so that he could hear her, "'Don't compare you "friends", and I do use that term _very_ loosely, to mine because they will never be the same!" She entered her room and slammed the door, sliding to floor in silent giggles.

Draco continued to stand in the common room with a rather befuddled look on his face, which soon turned to rage. He shrugged off her comment, though, and started for the lavatory, not bothering to lock the door. He stripped down to his skivvies and started filling the bathtub with hat water. After the bath was full with the right amount of water, he took off his knickers and jumped into the water. He simply lounged in it for a long time and then quickly washed his hair and body. When he was clean and his usually pale skin was slightly pink and raw, he reclined against the side of the pool on the edge of sleep.

He was dozing in and out of sleep when he heard a door open. He pried his eyes open and looked around. When everything came into focus, he noticed that the person who had entered had come through his door and it was…

"Desdemona!" yelped Draco. She, she being Desdemona Nightingale, was giving him a sly look. She was standing in only her bra and knickers, her black hair streaming down her body. "How did you get in the common room?"

"I followed you and memorized the password," she said in a high-pitch girl voice that let him know she wanted something.

"Is there something I can do for you?" Draco drawled after regaining his composure.

"Oh, well yes, Draco, there is," she rasped seductively, unclipping her bra and letting it drop to the floor. "I was just wondering if—"

"Malfoy, who are you talking—" Hermione had entered, without knocking or anything, and stood, wide-eyed in the doorway. "—to?"

"Well, hello Miss Granger," Desdemona said as if nothing was wrong with the image of her standing in her panties before a naked Draco.

"Bloody hell!" yelled Hermione, covering her eyes with her hand and retreating back into her room and slamming the door. She buried her face in her hands and slumped onto the floor. "Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell!" Hermione cried in repetition. Her face was bright red and her heart was pounding.

Draco pushed himself out of the tub and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around himself and heading for his room.

"Where are you going now?" Desdemona asked, watching him with narrowed eyes.

"I'm completely turned off now," he lied, closing his door and leaving Desdemona alone in the bathroom, almost completely naked. She huffed and left the common room after putting her bra back on.

Draco dropped himself onto the bed and rolled over onto his stomach. The truth was that he wasn't turned off, not in any sense. If anything, he was even more turned on that Granger had caught him. He stifled a groan in one of his pillows and then crawled off his bed and went over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of black boxers. He pulled them on and then went back over to his bed. Just as he was relaxing, the door to his room from the lavatory opened.

"Look, Desdemona," he snapped, rolling over, "I told you I'm not in the---mmmph!" Suddenly his clothes, which he had left by the bathtub, came flying into his face.

"My name is _not _Desdemona!" screeched Hermione, retreating back into the bathroom and slamming the door. "Stupid, slimy git!"

Draco groaned even louder and threw his dirty clothing to the floor. He flicked his wand and the lights turned out, leaving him in the dark. He had been staring up at the ceiling for a long time, what he guessed to be about three hours, when finally he rolled off his bed, grabbed a book, and started out of his room. When he was in the common room, he stopped at the sight of a pair of smooth legs dangling over the side of the crimson couch and once again, Draco jumped to conclusions.

"Desdemona, I told you already that I—" but he stopped very suddenly when a bushy brown haired head popped up and was obviously attached to the body that the perfect legs were sprouting from. Two brown eyes glared at him and his eyebrows raised.

"I am NOT Desdemona, as much as I am sure you would love me to be! She is, after all, your newest sex toy, right?" Hermione hissed, snapping her book shut and dropping it to the floor with a '_thunk.' _"Must not take very long to decide if you want something and its must takes even less time to get it. You are a lecherous, self-absorb, stupid, slimy git!" Hermione stopped to take a breath and then opened her mouth to continue but Draco interjected.

"I didn't have sex with her!" yelled Draco. "And I don't understand why you're getting so upset!" He stopped suddenly and smirked slyly. "Unless, of course, you're jealous, Granger!"

"I am not jealous! What you were doing in there was, was, was completely disgusting, Malfoy!"

"Would you like to see EXACTLY what I was doing? I can give you a first hand demonstration if you like, Granger," Draco smirked. "I'm sure it would be your first time, am I right?"

"Why, you—you—you—" but Hermione didn't finish. She merely picked up her book from the floor and chucked it at Draco, it hitting him square in the nose and causing it to drip with what blood was left from the bloody nose he'd received the night before.

Hermione didn't wait to see the outcome, however. She stomped off to her dormitory and slammed the door shut. She jumped onto her bed and began throwing pillows around her room in fury. After an hour of trashing her room, Hermione jumped down off her bed, picked up a few things, gathered her pillows, and returned to her bed. Without bothering to change her clothes, she settled herself under the covers.

"I'm not jealous," she huffed. '_Am I?'_ She shook the thought from her head and rolled over, closing her eyes and drifting into an uneasy sleep.

Draco Malfoy, however, was not having as much success sleeping as the muggle-born next door. He was resting on his bed, with his head tilted up slightly to stop the blood flow and a tissue pressed against the tender area of his face. His face, though it looked fairly odd, was contorted with anger and his hair was mussed from having run his free hand through it several times.

"Damn it!" he cursed loudly, rubbing his sore nose again and wiping away fresh blood. "I think she broke it this time…Ouch!" He massaged his nose again and, when finally the bleeding stopped, tossed the blood-soaked tissue into a wastebasket beside his bed. He scrunched it up a little, wiggled it, and fell asleep when the pain had finally subsided.

The next morning when Draco awoke he heard movement in the lavatory. He slid off his bed, grabbed his uniform and robes, and entered the bathroom, finding it curiously unlocked. He stepped in and looked around. The tub was half-full with bubbly water as it emptied and sitting over the edge of it, drying her hair, was Hermione. She was wearing her white blouse and matching panties. She glanced up and, spotting Draco coming out of his room, grabbed another nearby towel and covered her lower half.

"You're up early," she grunted sleepily. "It's only 5:30. Why is it you always pick excellent time to enter?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you, mudblood," Draco snapped grumpily, moving over to the shower and turning it on.

He dropped his school clothes on the floor out side of it and watched as Hermione tugged her skirt onto her body. After she tucked in her shirt, she gave him a glare and a derisive scoff before retreating back into her room. Draco showered and dressed and just as he was tucking his Slytherin tie into his gray sweater-vest, Hermione returned to brush her teeth.

"Just can't get enough of me, can you, Granger?" taunted Draco. Hermione pulled her toothbrush from her mouth, spit into the sink, and glared at him.

"Shut up, Malfoy," she snapped, "I'm too tired and busy to deal with you this morning." After she brushed her teeth and rinsed the toothpaste out, she set her toothbrush down and took up her bag, which she had brought in with her.

"Where are you going this morning, Granger?" Draco drawled after gelling up his hair. "Meet up with your little boyfriends?" Hermione flinched. "I never thought you could last this long away from them but I guess that just goes to show me, hm?"

Hermione took a few deep breaths and dropped her bag to the floor before rounding on Draco. Her hair had suddenly become mussed and the circles that had been forming under her eyes became ever the more evident as she glared at him from across the bathroom. Her face had an eerie glow to it that made Draco's stomach unsettled.

"I'm getting really very tired of you right now, Malfoy," she snapped. "Sometimes I almost wish that Moody had left you as a ferret because then, if you made me as furious as I am right now, I'd be able to squash you under my foot like a bug! And for your information, I am not going to meet either Harry or Ron! I'm going to the library!"

She snapped up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and stomped out of the lavatory, slamming the door behind her. Draco had an annoyed look on his face as he finished up in the bathroom and left for breakfast.

"If we keep this up, these doors won't be standing by the end of the year," he muttered as he exited the tapestry hole and started for the Great Hall.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

"Rubbish!" cried Ron, looking over the schedule that McGonagall had just handed them. "We still have Potions with the Slytherins. Well, I suppose it being our last class of the day sort of compensates for that."

"Well, at least you have only one class with the Slytherins," moaned Hermione, also looking over her schedule. "I have Arithmancy with them as well. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! The problem is there's only _one _Slytherin taking that class! Again, I ask, how much time do I have to spend with that bloody, ungrateful git? What did I do to deserve this?" Hermione pushed her plate of eggs aside and flopped her arms onto the table, looking completely put out.

Ron and Harry both gave her curious looks. "I've never seen you this upset about going to a class, Malfoy or not," said Ron, looking quizzical. "Did something happen between you and Malfoy again?"

"Doesn't something always?" grumbled Hermione, picking up her fork and stabbing it through a piece of scrambled egg on her neglected plate. "I'm exhausted right now so I would rather not talk about him. Class is about to start anyway. I've got Ancient Runes first and then Arithmancy. I'll see you in Transfiguration."

Hermione gathered her books and headed out the Great Hall. Just as she reached the Grand Staircase, she looked up and saw the one person she did not want to see standing at the top, chatting with none other than Desdemona Nightingale. Hermione sighed and put her hand on the rail opposite them. She began climbing the stairs. She had reached the top of the first set and was going to start on the second one when a drawling voice stopped her.

"Oi! Granger!" called Draco. Hermione clenched her hand into a fist around her bag's strap and turned to look at the blonde Slytherin who was scaling the stairs rather quickly.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she snapped, tapping her foot on the stair she's been halted on.

"Taking after Weasel now, are you?" he smirked.

"Shut up and get to the point; I don't want to be late for Ancient Runes on the first day of classes," she replied, adjusting her weight from one foot to the other.

"It's about Arithmancy," he began, still smirking at her.

"Don't remind me of that class right now. I'm already dreading spending my favorite class with you glowering at my back," Hermione bemoaned.

"For me it is the contrary," he rasped. "I think I'll quite enjoy 'glowering' at your back, but that's not what I called your attention for. It seems, as professor Vector says, that you and I will be the only ones in his class. He's asked us to please meet him in his office during that class but not to get situated because we won't be there long."

"Well, thank you for informing of this dreadful news that I will now be _alone _with you in Arithmancy all year," Hermione barked, and turned to head up the stairs once more, "but I really have somewhere more…interesting to be."

Draco smirked and returned to the foot of the second staircase where Desdemona was waiting for him, a curious look on her face.

"Now, if you'll follow me, Mona, I would gladly show you to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Right this way," Draco said and lead the way up the stairs.

Hermione reached the Ancient Runes classroom without incident. Several Hufflepuffs were already seated here and there, almost filling the class. Hermione was also the only Gryffindor in that class as well. She went up near the front and sat down by herself. She pulled out her book, several rolls of parchment, a quill and an inkbottle, preparing for class as she always did. When the teacher entered, Hermione forgot about Draco and buried herself in her notes.

The two of them met up once more in Professor Vector's class. Hermione sat down for a moment, but kept her book closed and herself ready to leave as soon as Professor Vector explained to them what they were to do.

"Well, you two are my finest students," he said. "Top marks on your O.W.L.S. and highest grades in my class. I feel there is nothing more I can teach you but there are some ways you can prepare for your N.E.W.T.S. Rather than throwing it on you right away, however, there are some things I'd like for you to do. With all of the jumble in the Education Networking Department at the Ministry, I've had more papers to grade then ever. I would appreciate it if you two would go to the library and grade them. I've already separated them into two piles and left them on a table in the Muggle Studies section." Draco wrinkled his nose. "Madam Pince will be watching you. I hope that isn't a problem."

Draco made a face that said 'It certainly is!' but Professor Vector paid no mind. "That would be delightful, professor," chimed in Hermione.

"Good, good," Vector laughed. "Well, off you go then."

Hermione skipped out of the room and Draco followed with much less bounce in his step. They entered the library and found there way to table in the Muggle Studies section, which had two stacks of papers sitting there. Hermione sat in front of one and Draco reluctantly took the seat beside her. The answer key was sitting alone between the two stacks.

"Daft professor," grumbled Draco. "Don't know what she just didn't use a Auto-Answering Charm. '_That would be delightful, professor.'_" He glared at Hermione.

"It's not a problem to me," Hermione replied, catching up on his mocking tone of voice. "I used to do this for teachers all the time at my muggle elementary school."

"Well, if you haven't noticed, Granger,—"

"'—w_e aren't muggles'_?" finished Hermione for him. "Yes, yes, but there's no helping it now, is there? So stop whining and start grading, will you?"

They sat in stagnant silence, their quills scratching as they marked answers wrong on pieces of parchment. After Draco had finished grading, he stretched languidly and looked at Hermione, whose eyes were glazed over and distant. She was on her last paper but she simply wasn't paying any attention. She was brushing the feather tip of her quill over the bridge of her nose as she thought.

"For Merlin's sake!" cried Draco, snatching the piece of parchment from in front of Hermione and finish grading it. "If we ever have to do this again and you take that long, we'll be in here for all eternity!"

Hermione shook herself from her reverie and gave Draco a meaningful look of warning. She stuck the stopper back in her bottle of red ink and set it back in her bag with her quill. She straightened up the paper, glancing at a few of the ones Draco had been grading to see if he'd been doing it right. After finding no errors, she set the papers back down and stood up, stretching her body and heading for a nearby bookshelf.

"Can't you ever go a day without reading?" asked Draco, reclining in his chair and watching the library doors for some sign of Professor Vector.

"I could, but I prefer not to," Hermione replied, striding down a few more aisles and looking at a few more books. "Toadstool Tales? Weren't those books recalled and banned by the Ministry?"

"Ah, Toadstool Tales," reminisced Draco, "I remember thee fondly. Yeah, they were banned but that doesn't mean some people still don't own any."

"You've read them?" Hermione asked, flipping through the pages.

"I found them an interesting read," he replied, smirking. "They aren't for the—how do you say—the faint of heart. Don't you remember why they were banned or did you stop reading up on them when you got that far?"

"Mm, I can't remember," she murmured absentmindedly, reading a few lines after her interest got the better of her. She was down to the bottom of the page when she snapped the book shut and covered her mouth. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"The reason they were banned, Granger," Draco said, his smirk still intact, "is that they cause nausea and vomiting."

He grabbed a nearby wastebasket and strode over to Hermione, holding it under her head. She snatched it from him, dropped the book, and began retching into it loudly. After a few moments of loud vomiting, Madam Pince strode over, looking irritated, but stopped when she saw Hermione with her face buried in a wastebasket. When she made it over to them, she started rubbing Hermione's back, staring suspiciously at Draco.

"What happened?" she hissed. Draco bent down, picked up the book from the floor, and showed it to the librarian.

"_This _happened," he snorted.

"Ah, there it is! Our rogue volume of Toadstool Tales that Peeves ran off with," exclaimed Madam Pince. "Odd how he would put it in the Muggle Studies section. I'll be taking that. And would you be so kind as to take Miss Granger to the Infirmary? Thank you, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco led Hermione out of the library, constantly checking to see if she had a firm hold on the wastebasket and warning her of several horrible things he would do to her if she let go and vomited on him. After they'd gone up a few flights of stairs and reached the Infirmary, Draco opened the door for her and let her in just as two people were coming out of their classes behind him.

"What are you doing, Malfoy?" snapped Harry, making Draco stop and look back. The dark-haired boy, accompanied by Ron, looked past Draco and saw Hermione retching into a trash basket. "Hermione! What happened? What did you do to her, Malfoy?"

"I've done nothing, Potter," snapped Draco, crossing his arms over his chest. "I was merely escorting Granger here to the Infirmary as I was instructed to by Madam Pince."

"Did you hex her?" Ron demanded, stomping his foot. "Why is she vomiting?"

"Oh yeah, Weasley," roared Draco, "I hexed her! That's exactly why Madam Pince is allowing _me _to escort her! You daft ass!"

Ron's ears turned bright red and he opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Hermione made a slightly squelching sound as she tried to speak. She only managed to vomit louder into the basket. Draco grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the Infirmary. Ron and Harry looked mutinous but knew it was only for the best. Madam Pomfrey, who had been tending to a student, a student of which was suffering from not being able to get the white end of a Nosebleed Nougat into his mouth, looked up. She shoved the rest of the candy rather forcefully into the boy's mouth and demanded he chew it, which he did, before rushing over to Hermione.

"What's happened?" she asked, looking pointedly suspicious at Draco, who rolled his eyes.

'_Of course, blame me.'_ "She found the Toadstool Tales that Peeves stole and her curiosity got the better of her," he explained and Madam Pomfrey relaxed.

"Well, that's easily remedied," she said, making Hermione sit down on the bed.

"Then I can go?" Draco asked, looking bored as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yes, yes," she said. "You all may go to your next class."

Draco passed by Harry and Ron and smirked. "Sorry you couldn't pin this one on me. Better luck next time," he drawled and strode down the stairs toward the Charms class.

Hermione spent most of the day resting in the Infirmary and gaining back the weight she'd lost from vomiting by eating, which she did not find pleasant in the least since even after she was full, Madam Pomfrey pushed her to eat more. After she had eaten her last sandwich, she held up her hands.

"If I eat anymore, I'll surely begin to vomit again," she groaned, flopping down on the Infirmary bed again, completely worn out.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Hermione entered the Great Hall for dinner after everything had been worked out in the Infirmary. She'd rested for two hours after finishing her food and then she was permitted it leave. She was greeted by Ron and Harry, who got up from where they were sitting and ran to meet her in the doorway. After reassuring them several times that she would be fine, the quit asking her questions.

"Some people would like to have dinner this century, Granger," drawled an all too familiar voice. Hermione looked over her shoulder and locked eyes with Draco. He smirked at her and gave her a slightly forceful shove so that he could get through.

"Git," grumbled Ron. "Anyway, let's sit down. Dinner's almost through."

Hermione sat between Ron and Harry and across from Ginny. She looked at the platters of food and the only thing appealing to her at the moment was her goblet, which was filled with pumpkin juice. She took a swig of it and was satisfied. She let out a breath and enjoyed the lack of vomit flavoring that had been coating her mouth when she was in the Infirmary.

Soon, the students began filing out of the Great Hall. Hermione stood up with Ron, Harry, and Ginny and started for the door with them. She chatted with them as they climbed a few staircases. When they came to the third floor, they walked her to the tapestry and looked at it with furrowed brows.

"What's that supposed to be?" asked Ginny, arching a brow and staring pointedly at the Older portrait of Draco.

"Ah, that would be Malfoy," stated Hermione, "and next to him, as much as I regret to say this, is me in a few years, or so I would suppose. Well, good night guys. This was a brilliant way to spend my first day of classes; in the Infirmary."

"Good night, 'Mione," called Harry.

"I'm sure tomorrow will be better," Ron comforted as they disappeared up the stairs. Hermione took to staring at the tapestry, most particularly at the Older Draco and how different he looked from the Present-day Draco. His hair was longer, but not so much that it came close to his father's.

"I know I look astonishingly gorgeous, mudblood," he said directly to Hermione, her older, portrait-self looking reproachful, "but honesty. Pick up your jaw from the floor and say the password."

"You're as egotistical and slimy as your actual person!" Hermione exclaimed and watched as Older Hermione clubbed Older Draco over the head with a book, causing him to have a bloody nose. Hermione snickers.

"And it seems your portrait-self is just as sadistic and violent as you," said a drawling voice directly behind Hermione. She glanced over her shoulder and up into his face.

"I'm the sadistic one?" Hermione asked, looking annoyed.

"_Meteorum memoradius_," the two said in unison and watched as the tapestry rolled up and allowed them entrance.

"Well, you do seem rather keen on giving me nosebleeds," Malfoy reminded.

"Only when you deserve them for being an arrogant prat!"

"Whatever you say, mudblood," he smirked, walking over and reclining on a couch. "Maybe I'll have Pansy over tonight."

Hermione gave a derisive scoff and retreated to her room. She set her bag down in an armchair in the corner. She went into the bathroom and started brushing her teeth. When she found her teeth were to her liking, vomit-free and such, she ran brush through her hair and went back into her room to change into her pajamas. She grabbed a book from her bookshelf, having finished the last one, and returned to the common and sitting in a crimson armchair, ignoring Draco as he watched her cross.

"No Pansy yet?" she asked, her nose still buried in the book. Draco chuckled.

"Not yet," he replied, smirking rather evilly. "I'm still contemplating my options. I could always have the ever lovely Mona Nightingale if I wanted."

"So her nickname is Mona, then? It's fitting, I'm sure," she said icily. The tone of her voice made Draco grimace. "So what are you waiting for?"

"Your jealousy is extremely evident in the way you speak, Granger," he drawled, running a hand through his blonde, gelled hair and tousling it ever so slightly.

"It shouldn't be since I'm _not _jealous, Malfoy," she replied, letting his name slip off her tongue as if it were a dirty curse word. "Now stop ogling me and do whatever you're planning on doing so that I may get on with my life. I must warn you, though, that aggravating me will only lead to yet another bloody nose." She closed her book, being careful not to lose her place, and held it up threateningly.

"Don't be irrational, Granger," he said, smirking at her playfully. "I was only joking. Honestly, I'd have thought that since you spend so much time with your boyfriends Potty and Weasel that you'd at least have a sense of humor. I mean, didn't they teach you anything?"

"Would you stop calling them my boyfriends, because they're not," she snapped back, slamming her book on the floor and getting to her feet. She stomped over to him and towered above him, looking like a maniac on the edge. "How would you know anyway? Your face is all too constantly between Pansy's legs. I'm surprised you manage to notice anything."

Draco's face twitched slightly and his smirk turned into a frown. He got to his feet as well, this time looming over Hermione and leaving her in his immense shadow. She didn't back down, however, or show any sign of fear. She kept eye contact at all times, though she did have to crane her neck slightly to look him in the face.

"If I were you, Granger," he began in a low, dangerous growl, "I wouldn't be smart for a Gryffindor, small and alone as you are, to insult someone like me."

"Or else what? You'll call your no good Death Eater daddy on me?" she taunted. "That's all you've ever been; the shadow of your father. You had to have him buy you onto the Quidditch team, you had to have him to make friends and get connections, and now what? You have to have him to fight your fights for you too? Why doesn't he just spoon feed you?"

With a sudden, sharp movement, Draco twirled Hermione around and pushed her roughly onto the couch on which he'd been lounging. She looked up at him like a deer in the headlights. He leaned in menacingly and glared at her, fire burning in his eyes.

"Watch your tongue, mudblood," he hissed, narrowing his eyes. "You don't know who you're dealing with and I don't you want to find out!"

Hermione gulped and watched as he drew back away from her. She lingered on his couch for a minute before gradually getting to her feet and picking her book up off the floor. She glanced his way with a wary eye before stumbling into her room. She closed the door behind her and slid down to the floor with a slightly relieved voice. Some part of her was telling her to be grateful since she had evaded the full blow of Malfoy's temper. She shoved her book away and sauntered over to her bed. She crawled up slowly and rested on the pillow, regaining her composure enough to make an enraged face and huff about previous events.

"Stupid, bloody prat," she growled to herself.

It wasn't much longer that Hermione heard someone enter through the tapestry hole. She rolled off her bed and tiptoed over to her door. She opened it ever so slightly so that she could see who it was. Through the sliver of open door, Hermione could see a flash of a bad blonde dye job and bad make-up.

"Hello there, Pansy," she whispered, getting a look around. Draco leaned over and whispered something in Pansy's ear, which made the Slytherin girl giggle overly exaggerated, take him by the hand, and lead him into his room where they began to partake in certain "activities."

Hermione slammed her door shut again, and Draco heard, smirking as he continued on with what he was doing. Hermione traipsed back over to her bed and plopped down, putting a silencing charm around her room and sighing at the sudden, very welcome silence. She rolled over onto her side and looked out the window. She gasped when she saw a pair of silvery-gray wings fluttering and a beautiful eagle owl knocking against her window, though she couldn't hear it. Hermione, once again, slid off her bed. She stumbled over to the window and threw it open, allowing the eagle to come in. She examined the owl closely before she recognized it.

"Oh, you're Malfoy's owl," she murmured and moved back over to her bed, making her way to the pillow once more. "Well, if it's unimportant mail, then Malfoy can wait, and if it is urgent, well boo hoo for ickle-Malfoy."

Hermione buried her face in her pillow and was about to fall asleep when she felt something pawing at her side. She swatted at it ("Not now, Crookshanks, I'll feed you in the morning.") but it persisted. After swatting at it several time, the pawing turning into raking and a set of talons tore into her arm. Hermione yelped and looked up. Draco's owl them pecked at her arm. Hermione looked at her arm and saw fresh blood pouring down onto the blanket. She cursed under her breath and grabbed the owl by its ankles, as much as she hated animal cruelty, and left her room. She cringed at the loud cries and moans from Pansy that emanated from Draco's rooms and filled the common room. Hermione pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, making her way over to his bedroom with the flustered owl. She grinned slyly, closed her eyes shut, threw the door open, and tossed the owl in. She lingered just long enough to hear Draco say, "It can wait until morning," which made her very Malfoy-ish smirk broaden.

She removed the Silencing charm from her room and jumped onto her bed to enjoy the screams of horror and pain that followed in little less than five minutes. Hermione peeked out her door just in time to see a naked Pansy, swathed in a black sheet, stumbling out the tapestry hole and a disheveled Draco appearing with a roll of parchment in his hand also completely naked. Hermione's cheeks turned bright red as she saw something she'd never expected to see in her life. She closed the door and buried her face in her hands in silent mortification. After a few minutes, however, she broke out into loud laughing and toppled onto her bed. Her laughter was cut off, though, when she heard Draco's do slam and a loud string of curses emit from his room, several of which seemed to be filled with anguish.

Hermione entered the bathroom, where the cussing became louder as she edged toward his door. She wasn't quite sure what was pushing her on but she felt a need to know what was happening. She stared at his door for a moment, almost as if daring it to open and expose her. She took in a deep breath and raised her hand to knock. '_I must have gone daft.'_ She knocked three times and cringed slightly at the loud "What!" she received as a reply.

She pushed the door open tentatively and looked in to find Draco crouching over his desk, scribbling something, his shoulders, bare as his chest was (he had put on some boxers to cover "all his glory"), quivering sever so slightly. When he heard the door open, he looked up and his eyes locked with Hermione's.

"What do you want, mudblood?" he snapped, wiping his eyes quickly.

That's when Hermione saw it. Draco's normally steely gray eyes were raw and full of emotion, giving off the characteristics of liquid silver. His face was not hard or contorted with sarcasm, though he did have a rather irritated look on his face. The one thing, however, which really made Hermione stop and take a closer look, was…

He had tears in his eyes.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

The next morning, the Great Hall was busy with chatter. Hermione was sitting, stony-faced, next to Ginny, who was talking rather animatedly with Lavender. Hermione only began really listening when a familiar name escaped Lavender's lips.

"Have you heard about Malfoy?" she asked, in a hushed voice. "Pavarti said that she over heard Pansy telling Millicent Bullstrode about a letter that he received last night. Apparently, his mother passed away. I can't help feeling somewhat sorry for him. I mean, I know he's been terrible, but no one deserves that sort of thing. Now, if it had been his father, I wouldn't much care."

Hermione hadn't been completely sure what had been ailing Draco the night before when she had walking into his room and found him sitting at his desk with a look of outmost distraught plastered across his pale face. They had stared at each other for a long time, Hermione in shock and Draco in sorrowful resentment.

"What do you want, mudblood?" he'd snapped. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

Hermione had opened her mouth to say something but found that there was nothing to say. The look on his face when she had walked in, so full of raw emotion, had startled her into speechlessness.

"Well, if you've got nothing to say, get out!" Draco had stipulated.

Hermione tried to form a sentence again but didn't have much success. She retreated back into the bathroom, closing the door. She stood silently in the lavatory without saying a word, before leaving the common room all together and heading for the Infirmary to get her arm patched up, as it had been bleeding rather profusely after she'd been attacked by Draco's owl. After Madam Pomfrey had applied ointment and a bandage, Hermione returned to the deathly silent common room.

"So that's what it was," she murmured, looking up at the enchanted ceiling thoughtfully.

"What, Hermione?" asked Ginny, looking at the brunette curiously.

"What? Oh, nothing, Gin," Hermione replied. "Just thinking."

Ginny didn't seem convinced but she continued on talking with Lavender. Hermione looked up from where she sat and turned her gaze to the Slytherin table. Draco was sitting between Pansy and a boy that Hermione recognized from Potions class to be Blaise Zabini. His face was sunken and he seemed distracted. It was obvious that he was ignoring Pansy's flaunting attempts to comfort him. Hermione just looked for a moment and soon, Draco's eyes met her gaze and Hermione looked away quickly. She tried to focus on her food but found it nearly impossible as she could feel a pair of slate gray eyes peering into the top of her head.

"Classes are about to start," Ron said through a mouthful of eggs. Hermione gave him a distasted look and he them down, looking sheepish.

Hermione shook her head slightly and gathered up all of her things, casting another wary glance at Draco before exiting the Great Hall with Harry and Ron flanking her. Draco, however, took his sweet time. He picked up his back slowly and, as if robotically, he got to his feet, scanning the Great Hall once more before sweeping down the table and exiting through the doors with Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle all following behind him.

Hermione felt rather distracted through all of her classes. During Arithmancy that day, Draco had been called away by Snape, undoubtedly to talk about a departure that the young Slytherin would be taking for his mother's funeral. He did not return for the rest of the class, nor did Hermione see any trace of him at Care of Magical Creatures or Potions, two classes that she had to share with the Slytherins that day. His absence caused a mighty stir among the Slytherins, though only few new the actually cause of his nonattendance. She sighed and continued to cut up her Boomslang skin during her last class of the day when she figured she most likely was not going to see anymore of him that day.

For that reason, she was mildly astonished when she saw him sitting silently in a green armchair in the Heads' common room after dinner. His blonde head was unmistakable. She made a move to come toward him but he held up his hand to halt her.

"If you think me some lost boy who needs you comfort, Granger," he began, in a rather low, raspy drawl, "I advise you to reassess. I don't want anything to do with you right now, nor do I want anything to do with the rest of the school. I'm sure Potter and Weasley are having a good hardy laugh about my suffering but I certainly do not need your sympathy."

"Malfoy…" she murmured.

She thought about going against he wishes but strode past him and entered her room, dropping her things on the floor, and at the moment, forgetting about her homework. Something was terribly wrong with that picture. For some reason, she felt a great swell of pity for him smothering her heart. She closed her eyes and sat on the floor. '_This is Malfoy we're talking about,' _she thought. '_He's been nothing but a spoiled, womanizing prick to Harry, Ron, and especially me since the day we stepped foot in Hogwarts. He doesn't deserve my commiseration…but then, why do I sympathize with him?'_

Hermione sighed and opened the door to look out. Draco was still sitting on the armchair, staring thoughtfully into the fire. When he heard Hermione's door creak open, however, he tore his gaze from the flames and made eye contact with her. She gulped, stood up to her full length, grabbed her bag off the floor, and walked back out into the common room, feeling rather unnerved as his solid, steely gray eyes followed her as she cross the room and sat on a crimson cushion that lined on of the tables. She pulled out a book, opened it, took out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink, and got to work on her Potions essay.

"Can't you do your homework somewhere else, Granger?" Draco snapped, looking around the side of his chair to where she sat.

"I can, but I'd rather do it here," she said matter-of-factly. He scoffed and made to leave the room. "Malfoy…" He stopped and looked back at her. "Listen, okay?"

"Why should I listen to you?" he questioned, raising a sardonic brow. "So that you can jest at me about my current situation?"

"No," Hermione muttered, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "I wanted to…to say I'm sorry…I'm sorry about your mum."

Draco was silent for a moment and then looked at her. "Yeah, me too." He retreated into his room and slammed the door. Hermione cringed slightly and went back to doing her homework, feeling slightly better than she had but also slightly worse.

"I'm beginning to feel rather sorry for these doors," she murmured, and began scribbling words onto the parchment with her quill.

After a few hours, Hermione was packing up her school supplies and homework. She was preparing to go to her room when she heard the bathtub turn on. She sighed slightly. She was going to take a bath but decided against it now that she knew that Draco was in it. She set her bag on her trunk in her room and went over to her dresser to pull some clothes out. She peeled off her robes and was unbuttoning her blouse when the door in her room leading to the lavatory burst open and Draco, clothed in nothing but a towel, burst.

"Bloody bird!" he yowled, taking no notice of Hermione's flushed face and running from the gray-feathered owl that was chasing him around. "Stop gawking, Granger! Get the parchment off its leg and let it out! Bloody hell!"

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, buttoned her blouse up, and captured the owl as gently as she could. She pulled it over to the window, untied the rolled piece of parchment from the owl's leg, and released it into the night. She turned around and saw Draco, clutching his towel tightly around his middle and keeling over as he tried to regain his breath. Hermione tugged her pajama bottoms up her legs as his back was to her and started toward him.

"Here," she snapped, thrusting the parchment under his nose. Draco looked at it, cross-eyed for a moment, and then took it from her. He gave her an effortless sneer and went back into the bathroom, grumbling under his breath.

Hermione rolled her eyes her succeeded in changing her clothes completely. After a while, she heard Draco's door open and close and she took that as a sign that she could go into the bathroom. She pushed the lavatory's door open and found it empty of people. The warm water in the bath was draining and there was almost complete silence. Hermione picked up her toothbrush and brushed her teeth, absentmindedly staring at the reflection of Draco's door in her mirror.

For some small reason, she got the nagging feeling that she was being watched. She merely shrugged it off and rinsed her mouth out before lazily stretching and heading back to her room. She jumped onto her bed and rolled over onto her side. There was an odd unrest in her stomach and she stared out the window. She merely shrugged it of, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Draco did not go straight to sleep after his bath, though. He stayed up for a majority of the night pacing his dorm, or packing his things. Too many things were happening and too soon. It was odd to him, though. Narcissa had been in striking good shape when he had left for school, but apparently, she'd died of illness. Draco wasn't sure whether to believe that piece of news or not. He'd come up with his own theories, one of which being that his father finally flew off his rocker and killed her, but something told him this was not the time to contemplate his fathers shortcomings. Instead, he ran a restless hand through his already muddled hair and continued packing.

The next morning when he woke up and got dressed, his trunk was already gone. He pulled his silver cloak over his shoulders and exited his room. He turned and found that Hermione was already awake. She was sitting in an armchair, clothed legs dangling over one side as she read over her homework. She only looked up when she heard him crossing the room.

"Leaving, Malfoy?" she asked, her eyes still scanning her Ancient Runes chart for mistakes.

"I bet that makes you so happy, doesn't it, mudblood?" he drawled. "I'm sure you're ecstatic to have two weeks Malfoy-free, aren't you?"

"Oh yes, Malfoy," she snapped, looking back at him. "I'm terribly looking forward to filling in and doing twice as long, double-rounds while I fill in for you. It should be shrieking good fun! Nitwit!"

"Have plenty of laughs and giggles over my misfortune with Potty and Weasel while I'm gone," he scoffed. "Maybe even throw a little party in my dormitory."

"You know," Hermione started through clenched teeth, "that's not a bad idea. I suppose I'll have to talk it over with Harry and Ron."

They each made derisive noises and then Draco started for the tapestry hole. "Remember to tell your little boyfriends to use protection, mudblood, though I doubt anyone would want to touch y—"

_WHACK!_

Hermione had picked up her Potions book from her book bag and hurled it at Draco. It smacked him in the back of the head and he stumbled out of the tapestry hole. Hermione huffily got to her feet and retrieved her book, only to throw it at the tapestry hole again for no particular reason.

"Stupid, pompous, womanizing, egotistical, slimy, perverted prick!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She took a deep breath to steady herself and then retreated through the portrait of a lion and entered the Gryffindor common room.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Two weeks passed by far too quickly for Hermione or for anyone in the Gryffindor house for that matter. Hermione was busying herself with her homework in the Heads' common room when Draco entered and looked around, slightly amazed to find that everything was how he'd left it. Hermione tried her hardest to ignore him but found that when he sat down on a couch and surveyed her over arched fingers that she could no longer disregard him. She set her quill down on the table and looked up, finding herself staggered in the difference he presented himself. His hair, which had been tightly gelled back when he had left, was hanging loosely in his face, covering what looked like a black eyes. His eyes were still steely and cold but seemed to hide something behind them. He was dressed in long sleeves and barely any of his skin was showing. Not only that, but the skin that _was_ visible was more white than ever, giving him a ghostly look.

"Granger, I know that I am resplendently handsome and charming and you'd like to have your hands all over me but please show some reserve," he drawled, the smirk, which Hermione had not missed, twisting his lips.

"I see that your ego hasn't changed," she murmured. "Perhaps it has become worse. I'm taking something splendid happened at your mother's funeral, Malfoy?"

Draco's smirk vanished at once and Hermione was taken aback at his sudden change of mood. He glared at her and adjusted uncomfortably.

"Funerals are as grave to me, Granger," he began, "as they would be to you." Hermione snorted and continued doing her homework.

"Where'd you get that black eye, then?" she asked, glancing up at him. He tensed.

"That's none of your business, Granger," he snapped.

"Touchy, aren't we?" she inquired, smirking herself. "Must have been embarrassing then."

"I'll have you know that I tripped," he lied.

"For someone apparently so '_charming,_' you aren't a very good liar," she said, chuckling and looking up at him. "Besides, since when is 'tripping' not embarrassing?"

"Oh, just sod off, mudblood," he mumbled and then retreated into his room. Hermione's smirk broadened and she started packing up her things.

'_Oh, so now I'm pushing Malfoy's buttons,'_ she thought to herself, rolling up her parchment. '_Who's go the upper hand now, Malfoy?'_

She walked into her room and tossed her bag in a nearby armchair. She stretched slightly and went over to her dresser, pulling out her pajamas and then making for the lavatory door. She pushed it open and entered. She'd barely taken a step in when a holler of surprise made her look up. Her brown eyes met a pair of curious gray ones. They didn't linger there, however. She looked down to find that Draco was only in his knickers. She blinked a few times and then noticed that there were several blotchy bruises over the pale skin of his chest and arms.

"What are you gawking at?" Draco snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. Hermione tore her eyes away and gave Draco's bruised face a searching look. He simply raised a sardonic brow and tapped his foot impatiently on the dark marble of the floor. "Well?"

"Did you get all of those," Hermione raised her hand and pointed to the bruises, "when you 'tripped' as—? What's that?" Hermione had spotted something on his arm and Draco fidgeted uncomfortable under her gaze. "Is that…is that the Dark Mark?"

Draco looked down at his arm and twisted it slightly to hide any visible part of the tattoo that Hermione might have been able to see.

"I don't know _what _you are talking about, Granger," drawled Malfoy somewhat amused. "And these bruises," he smirked, "well, let's just say I like it rough." Hermione's cheeks turned a brilliant pink and she turned, stumbling out of the bathroom to hide her blush. She slammed the door shut and Draco smirked, pleased that he could still ruffle her feathers.

Hermione sat on her bed, forgetting about the bath she'd been planning on taking, and changing into her pajamas in a rather irate fashion, pulling the clothing on violently and nearly tearing the fabric. When she was dressed, she went over to the bookshelf and simply stared at the books. In the two weeks, that Draco had been gone, she'd been able to do a fair amount of reading in the common room without being disturbed, but, most likely, it would not be so since he had come back. She sighed, grabbed a rather thick book from the bottom shelf, and exited into the common room to find her usual seat in the crimson armchair by the fire.

She had not read the six page introduction when the door to the lavatory opened and Draco, clad in nothing by silky black skivvies, entered into the common room, feeling rather refreshed with his chest bare, exposing the bruises. He took the seat right next to Hermione and smirked as he watched her read, trying as best as she could to ignore him. He had been lying in the bathroom when he accredited his bruises to rough and violent sex. The truth had been he had gotten into a row with his father about his patronage to the dark world even after the Dark Lord's demise. His father would hear none of what Draco had to say and put his only son under the Cruciatus curse. Draco had fallen while the curse was upon him; fallen onto the fireplace a bruised several areas of his chest, but soon his father had left, and Draco had been alone. Draco thought he had tended to his injuries fairly well, since he no longer had any broken ribs and the pain had subsided.

Draco looked away from Hermione, who visibly relaxed when she no longer felt his gaze upon her, and looked into the fire. His gray eyes lit up slightly as he drifted into thought. After a few minutes passed, he looked down at his arm, which had begun to burn ever so slightly. He rubbed it slightly and sighed. The Dark Mark was not something he had wanted. While in his fourth year at Hogwarts, or rather right before it at the Quidditch World Cup, Draco had been placed under the Imperius curse and branded by a member of the Death Eaters. It was not something he had wanted and, though he had gone to every specialist in the wizarding world that specialized in tattoo removal (even a few muggle doctors), the tattoo was too magical even to begin to fade.

"Well?" Hermione spoke up, putting a bookmark at her place and looking up at him.

"Well, what, Granger?" Draco replied, giving her a look.

"Well, how did you really get those bruises?" Something in the way she asked made Draco grin slyly.

"Do I detect a hint of…concern in your voice, Granger?" Hermione cheeks were graces by a light tinge of pink.

"W-well," she started, looking reluctant to say anything. "It's—er—well, you are—you are a student, after all." Her voice was slightly wavering. "And—and the job of a Head is to look out for the wellbeing of the students and—and—"

"Save it, Granger," Draco snapped. "I don't need you '_looking out for my wellbeing.'_"

Hermione gulped and watched him get to his feet and cross the room to his dormitory. He opened the door and glanced back, catching Hermione's eye. His eyes weren't nearly as solid and icy as they usually were and Hermione felt something fluttering around in her stomach. He closed his door and she looked down at her book in perplexity. '_Was I really worried? About Malfoy? No way. This just isn't possible. I mean, it's Malfoy…but when he looked at me like that…NO! No, no…pull yourself together, Hermione! Get a grip, girl! It's just because he looks different, that's all. He still acts the same. Egotistical, chauvinistic, selfish, perverted…yeah. He's still Malfoy. He's just got a new guise.'_

She got to her feet and slumped across the common room toward her dormitory. She opened the door slowly and nearly screamed when she saw a black-haired witch sitting on her bed and musing with a photograph from Hermione's bedside table. The witch looked up when Hermione entered and smirked at her surprised expression.

"Desdemona?" Hermione asked, clutching her chest as if begging her heard to beat slower and not go into overdrive and kill her. "Merlin's beard, you scared me."

"Sorry 'bout that," Mona said without much feeling, "and call me Mona. I mean, we are friends, right?"

Hermione had the urge to yell "Hell no" but resisted. She merely forced a smile and replied, "Yes, I suppose we are, but you see, I was about to retire. Is there something you needed?"

"Oh, yeah, there is," replied Mona, jumping down off of Hermione's bed. "Well, I was just wondering what sort of relationship that you and Draco are in?"

"Relationship?" questioned Hermione with a look that said 'Are you joking?' "There is _no _relationship between me and that ungrateful, womanizing prick next door?"

"So, he's free territory?" Hermione felt something in her chest wrench but ignored it.

"If anyone would want to invest," scoffed the brunette. "Have at him. I don't want him. But be forewarned. He '_likes it rough.'_" An amused laugh came from the lavatory and Hermione glared at the door and then smiled back at Mona. "Just a second if you please."

Hermione walked over to her bookshelf and pulled out a particularly thick volume. She strode over to the lavatory door, threw it open, came face to face with Draco, and threw the book at him, getting him the face and making him stumble backward.

"Damn it, you stupid bint!" Draco cried, throwing the book aside and holding his nose. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"It was for being an eavesdropping prick!" Hermione snapped, snatching her book up and threateningly holding it near to his face. Draco grabbed a tissue and tilted his head back to stop the blood flowing down his face freely. After he was sure he could make it, Draco stumbled across the lavatory and in his room. Hermione turned back to Mona and smirked wryly. "Again, he's free territory _if _you have the willpower to invest!"

"Well," breathed Mona in a snobbish way, "you aren't that nice! What has he ever done to you to deserve that?"

Hermione's eyebrows raised. "Would you be willing to sit down for about a week to hear me name them all off?"

Mona scoffed and exited Hermione's room into the lavatory and then into Draco's room. Hermione rolled her eyes and closed the lavatory door, locking it and the door leading out to the common room. She crawled onto the bed and relaxed into the pillows, sighing in irritation.

'_She can have him,'_ she thought, running a hand through the bushy mass of brown that was her hair. '_She and Pansy may be the only ones who want him.'_ Some part of Hermione's brain was protesting to that but she merely shrugged it off and dozed into a light sleep.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared around. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but they didn't. The room was completely enveloped in darkness. She fumbled around and felt herself topple off her bed. There was a strange snickering coming from some ways off and a light, much like that of a stage light, came on and illuminated a spot not to far from Hermione. Standing in the light was Draco, looking smug as ever and sitting on, what she could barely make out, as a throne. He had his arms and legs crossed and looked down at her.

'Well, well, Granger,' he rasped, getting up and moving toward her, 'I always knew you'd be bowing to me like the rest of them.'

In a flash of green light, Draco disappeared and, instead, Desdemona Nightingale was sitting on the throne. She smirked down at Hermione.

'You said you didn't want him,' she laughed, 'so he's mine now. Too bad, so sad.'

Another puff of green smoke and Pansy replaced Mona.

'Hello, little mudblood, not to long now before you're carried off to be with the rest of the scum. Too bad you weren't nicer to Draco or I when you had the chance.'

POOF! All of a sudden, a large, platinum dragon was before Hermione, looking ferocious. It reared its head back and opened its mouth, ready to burn Hermione to cinders, but Hermione jolted away and peered around her dark room, glad not to find any large, platinum dragons lurking in the shadow.

"Wow…I must be paranoid or something. Malfoy's really getting under my skin."


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

Draco woke early the next morning, being bothered by his sore, bruised ribs. He groaned and looked around. Lying next to him on the bed was a very naked Desdemona Nightingale. Her face was full of victory and her hands were clutching the pillowcase. Draco rubbed his head, regretting his nightly actions as his bruises as injuries reprimanded him. He grabbed his knickers, which had been dangling from one of the posts of his 4-poster bed, and put them on, jumping slightly when someone goosed him. He looked down and saw Mona smirking slyly up at him from where she lay, getting a good look up his skivvies.

"This certainly is a nice view," she commented, stretching her body and exposing her upper torso. Draco grinned and jumped off his bed. "Well, I guess I should get going before someone sees that I'm gone. I mean, I don't imagine screwing around with girls is rewarded at Hogwarts and it would probably be worse if it was with the daughter of a professor." She had rolled out of bed and was getting dressed.

"Yeah, well, just so you don't get caught strolling down the halls at this time in the morning and questioned, use the portrait with the serpent in the common room. It'll take you right to the Slytherin common room. It's a one way trip, though, no coming back through without a password."

"Alright," she moaned, tucking her blouse into her skirt. She stretched one more time and then headed out to the common room with Draco on her heels. "I guess I'm lucky that you don't have classes today since it's Saturday, huh?"

Hermione looked up from her spot on the crimson couch and retched slightly when she saw Draco and Mona kiss passionately in his doorway. Mona gave her a malicious smirk and then jumped through the serpent portrait hole. Hermione snapped her book shut and started toward her room.

"Oh, what's wrong, Granger?" asked Draco in a voice of mock-curiosity. "Getting a little jealous?"

Hermione sighed with an aggravated air and turned to glare at him.

"No, Malfoy," she started in a low, dangerous voice that told Draco she hadn't slept much. "What I don't get is how you can be all beaten up," her voice was lightly etched with concern, "and still manage to do you nightly routine and with more enthusiasm than I've heard from you since I've been here. I wonder, is it because it was Desdemona Nightingale? It must have been the thrill of doing a teacher's daughter or something but you and her screamed so loud that I could hear you _through _my Silencing Charm!"

"It's not _who _I was doing that stimulated me, mudblood," he snapped, drawing closer to her. Hermione backed up a few feet, into what she thought was a door, but found she was against solid stone wall. "I was the fact that I haven't _done _anyone in two weeks!"

"Oh, yeah," she barked sardonically, looking more irate than ever. "That must have been simply horrible! Honestly, can't you go a whole week without any sexual interaction?"

Draco had her up against the wall, his head dangerously close to hers. She could feel his warm, ragged breath on her cheek and he could smell the sweet jasmine wafting off her form. They glared at each other for a moment, Hermione trying not to notice how silvery his eyes had become and Draco trying not to be aroused by their closeness. Suddenly, Hermione jabbed her finger forward, into what she hoped was a bruised patch. She sighed, relieved, when he choked and backed away, rubbing the offended area. Hermione glared at him and walked, rather quickly into her room with an angry "Serves you right."

Draco smirked after her and then started for the lavatory. He was brushing his teeth when Hermione entered and started filling the bathtub. She glanced up at him and her face filled with color. He wasn't sure if it was because she was embarrassed or because she was angry. He couldn't be quite sure, either, if she was grumbling under her breath, because the bathtub filling itself was a bit louder than he expected. After the bathtub was filled just how Hermione liked it, with a little bit of jasmine and lavender bubbles, she sat down on the edge and watched as Draco added the finishing touches to his hair, which remained un-gelled. When he was finished, he turned around and smirked at her. He headed for the door leading to the common room, curving slightly over and knocking Hermione in the back. She went flying in to the tub, but not before she caught Draco's leg and pulled him with her.

He landed on top of her in the water. Out of instinct and shock, Hermione wrapped her arms around his shoulder, afraid that she would sink in the rather shallow tub. Draco pulled her to the surface and used his hand to push the wet hair from his eyes. Hermione released him and stood up, looking around at her soaked pajamas.

"You ass," she snapped.

"A little jumpy, are we, Granger?" he drawled, with an irritated smirk as he looked down at his drenched robes. He sloshed over to the side and pushed himself out of the water. "I mean, you were holding onto me for dear life in that tub."

"It was only because you…you surprised me! It was automatic," Hermione reasoned, more to herself than to him. She rung her hair out over the pool and then rounded on him. "I didn't exactly feel you pushing me off."

"I was rather enjoying your frightened state," he purred. "I didn't want to end it so soon."

He eyed Hermione curiously for a moment and then shrugged of his dripping robes, letting them fall to the floor with a spatter. He then began unbuttoning his shirt, still smirking at Hermione who seemed to have stopped dead.

"What _are _you doing?" shed hissed, as his shirt fell on top of his robes and he started on his pants.

"Do you expect me to run around in wet clothes all day?" he replied, arching a sardonic brow. Hermione mumbled under her breath. "Do you plan to?"

"No, but I also don't plan on changing in front of you," she replied, sighing and getting to her feet. She headed for her dormitory and closed the door behind her. "That man!"

She pulled off her soaking pajamas and tossed them into a corner of the lavatory after wrapping her fuzzy, pink bathrobe around he and being sure not to look up to see if Draco was naked. She returned to her room and pulled out her clothes of that day, which consisted of a warm red sweater and jeans. After she was dressed, she wrapped a towel around her shoulders so that she didn't get her sweater wet, and returned to the lavatory, to find that Draco was doing his hair again. Hermione rolled her eyes, went over to her faucet, and looked in the mirror. She picked up her hairbrush and started pulling at the wet, twisted knots in her brown locks.

"Taking another shot at taming that wild mass you call hair, mudblood?" Draco asked, smirking when she flinched at the name. "Or is this some daily ritual to make it worse?"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione snapped in reply. "Go walk off the top of the school or something."

"I'm sure you'd just love that, wouldn't you?"

"As would pretty nearly all of the school."

Draco finished fixing his hair and ridding himself of the smell of jasmine and lavender. Hermione's hair was straight and smooth and wet…for the time being. They both started for the door leading into the common room and met up there.

"Well?" asked Draco, holding his hand out for her to go.

"I don't think so," replied Hermione. "I'm not going to turn my back on you when you're this close."

"Oh, damn, mudblood," Draco drawled sarcastically, pretending to snap his fingers. "You saw right through me! Just go!"

Hermione gave him a wary glance, grasped the doorknob, and threw the door open, running through it before he could try anything. The odd thing was, he hadn't tried anything. She looked at him again before she started toward the portrait of the lion. She pushed it open and came through, glancing back at Draco who was headed for the tapestry hole.

"He's such a slimy git," she moaned, plopping down on the floor beside Harry and Ron, who were, as usual, looking pensively over their game of Wizard's Chess.

"Oh boy," breathed Ginny. "Why don't you just kill him already and get it over with? Honestly, no one would hold it against you. They'd just wonder why you hadn't done it sooner."

Hermione laughed and rolled over onto her side, staring at the chessboard as Ron's bishop destroyed on of Harry's pawns. Hermione rested on the floor of the Gryffindor common room, staring lazily into the fire. She jumped slightly when she felt something rubbing against her back and rolled over to look at a furry, ginger colored cat. Hermione smiled, picked up the cat, and rested him on her stomach, running her fingers through his fur.

"So this is where you've been, Crookshanks?" she asked, scratching her back behind the ears. "I was getting a little worried that I might have left you at home or forgot you on the train." Crookshanks purred against her hand and then bounced off up to the girls' dormitories.

Soon Harry and Ron ended the match, Ron winning by a long shot. Hermione stood up and stretched, several bones in her back popping uncharacteristically. She watched as Ron put up the game after the pieces had reassembled themselves. Ron helped Hermione to her feet, his ears pinking ever so slightly.

"To breakfast, then?" asked Ginny, closing the Witch Weekly she'd been reading. When Hermione looked up, she hid the magazine rather defensively.

"What have you there, Ginny?" Hermione questioned, giving the female Weasley a suspicious look.

"Nothing!" Ginny blurted out quickly. "L-let's just go to breakfast! I'm starved!"

Ginny grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged her out of the common room, after depositing the Witch Weekly between the cushions of her armchair. Harry and Ron tailed along behind them, trying hard to hide their smirks and snickers, which only made Hermione more leery. Ginny finally pushed Hermione into the Great Hall and led her over to the Gryffindor table. Hermione had started shoveling eggs onto her plate and buttering her toast when giggling from Lavender and Pavarti caught her attention. Hermione glanced up and saw they were both pointing to something in Lavender's Witch Weekly magazine.

"Say, Lavender?" called Hermione. Ginny looked apprehensively between Hermione and Lavender. Lavender looked up at Hermione curiously. "Can I just have a look at your Witch Weekly right quick? I'll give it back right away." Lavender still looked dubious but slowly handed the magazine to Hermione.

The brunette flipped through the pages haphazardly, glancing at pictures and skimming articles. She stopped suddenly when an all too familiar face was grinning up at her. It was the ever blonde and pale Draco Malfoy that was smirking at her. What was more what that Hermione was linked to his arm?

**The Malfoy Muggle-Born?**

_As it is well known, Draco Malfoy has just recently been dubbed the sole inheritor of the Malfoy Estate. He has been dubbed most eligible bachelor with one of the most alluring smiles that the editor of Witch Weekly has ever seen, making him the most recent recipient of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, but that's not all. It has come to our attention that as Mr. Malfoy enters his last year at Hogwarts; he has also taken up the title Head Boy, an honor that has been bestowed upon all of his family for generations. _

_However, news has reached us of something quite shocking. It seems that Draco, 17, whose father, Lucius Malfoy, 37, has long been known as a supporter of non-muggle-born laws, has been consorting rather romantically with a muggle-born. Hermione Granger, 17, and Head Girl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has recently been seen in various places with Mr. Malfoy. We have managed to catch images here and there of them around the school. He has been seen taking her to the Infirmary when she was very ill (see picture below), speaking with her in the Great Hall (see picture to the left), and even coming out of classes with her (see picture to the right)._

_Some at the school, who wish to remain anonymous, have even gone so far as to say they are engaged. If any of these rumors are true, we may be seeing much of Draco and Hermione together, which will be a big heartbreak for several in the wizarding world, including myself._

Hermione practically threw the magazine back at Lavender and became aware of the eyes that were on her and the murmurs going around.

"Bloody hell!" she gasped, burying her face in her hands.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Hermione rolled around on her bed, rubbing her temples and trying to think of something _other _than the article or Draco, without having much success. She finally gave an exasperated sigh of defeat and rolled over again merely to fall off the bed, down three feet, and loudly collide with the floor. She let out an irate holler and kicked her feet like an infant.

"I can't believe the luck I'm having!" she cried, turning onto her stomach and burying her head in her arms. "Oh, bloody hell…"

"Hermione…" came a quiet voice from her doorway. The brunette looked up and saw Ginny standing warily in the doorway. She seemed like she didn't want to come too far into the room in case Hermione blew up at her.

"Come in, Ginny," she murmured. "I'm not angry at you. I'm…irate at Witch Weekly right now and…and…and…and there are no words to describe how mad I am at Malfoy!"

"Oh yes, blame it all on Malfoy," drawled someone behind Ginny, making the redhead jump into the room. "Wow, great distance, Weasel's kid sister."

"She has a name, Malfoy!…and what do you want, anyway?" Hermione snapped, stretching and getting to her knees.

"Oh, you're in a good position to be taking that tone with me." He was obviously referring to her being on her knees on the floor. "If that's all you wanted, Granger, you only had to ask. I didn't know you liked people watching, though."

"Ginny, duck," said Hermione, picking up her book from the floor. "Malfoy, hold still."

Draco wasted no time in ducking, and strangely, pulling the youngest Weasley down with him as a book came hurtling through the doorway. Ginny and he got to their feet and the redhead gave him a very curious look.

"Thanks," she said, looking rather befuddled.

"Don't mention it," he began, looking rather angry with himself, "_ever!_"

He swaggered off toward his room after giving Hermione a meaningful and pensive look before holding up the issue of Witch Weekly.

"You've read this, I presume," he drawled, tossing it to the floor in front of her.

"Unfortunately," she replied, kicking it away with her foot, "and I have never felt so sick in my life."

"I don't know what you're moaning about," he replied, crossing his arms and giving a rather cagey look at another book near Hermione. "I'm the one with the valuable reputation at stake. Being associated with a mudblood," he ducked yet another book, Ginny sidling out of the way on her own, "could shatter it beyond repair. You, on the other hand, are being romantically paired, media-wise, with the richest and most eligible bachelor." He dodged another book and Ginny, who had been leaning against the wall outside of Hermione's dormitory, watched as he headed toward his own.

The Weasley girl entered into Hermione's room to find her furious, on the verge of tears, and trembling with a passion to hex Draco to pieces. Ginny closed Hermione's door and moved over to sit on the bed. She settled, instead, on sitting on the floor next to Hermione. Ginny patted the brunette on the back and watched as she stubbornly held back the tears. After a few moments of enraged silence, Hermione got to her feet and left her dormitory, with Ginny on her heels, heading for the Gryffindor common room.

Draco, however, was digging around in his trunk. He pushed aside old school books and found something wrapped in old, patched robes and tied with a dirty sock. He pulled it out and removed the sock, popping the cork off a bottle of Ogden's Fire Whiskey. He took a large swig and smacked his lips as his tongue got used to the all too familiar taste. He downed another gulp and then just stared blankly into the reddish-amber liquid. He knew that if he drank the whole bottle, he could easily be slobbering drunk and find himself awake the next morning with six different girls. He made a silent decision not to let it carry out that far. Every time he managed that feat, the women he saw were too old, too young, or too ugly. He knocked back another mouthful and sighed, staring at the glittering Head Boy badge on his chest.

"Screw it," he murmured, licking the rim of the bottle hungrily.

He closed his eyes and pictured himself in the Witch Weekly once more…with Hermione on his arm. He shuddered slightly, sipping the fire whiskey again. He had to admit, she had almost looked pretty. '_Almost…what the Merlin am I saying? This is mudblood Granger after all. When has she looked pretty? Big teeth, bushy hair, and overly expressive eyes.'_ He sighed and opened his eyes, eyeing the whiskey again before taking another mouthful and swallowing. He could feel his head swirling slightly and everything became slightly dull.

"Aw, who needs women?" he asked, thrashing his bottle around. "Especially no-good, mudblood, Granger!"

Hours had passed and day was soon night when Hermione came through the portrait from Gryffindor. She had said the password, quietly, to the still lion and the portrait had creaked open, showing stairs leading down to the Head's common room. She heard loud yowling, when she got in, which it sounded something quite like Weird Sister lyrics.

"_Oooh baby! It'sh not easeeeeeeee bein' crazeeeeeee_…" the screaming person, which, from Hermione's perspective, sounded undoubtedly like a banshee, howled. She looked up in the direction of the music and found she was staring at Draco's door.

She was reluctant to go near it, though. She feared that, knowing Draco's family background, that it actually could have been a banshee. When she touched the doorknob on his door, she jumped as the person on the other side continued screaming lyrics.

"_An' you ish drivin' meeee crazeeeeeee tonigh'_!" Hermione pushed the door open and came saw Draco dancing on his rug, waving an empty whiskey bottle around. He stopped singing when he heard his door open and looked at Hermione.

"Oooh, hey Grangah!" he spat out, drunkenly. "How you doin'? You ain't gotsh nooo booksh wish ya, do ya?"

"Merlin's beard, Malfoy," exclaimed Hermione, "are you drunk!"

"Maybeee," he drawled, stumbling toward her. "What'sh it tooo ya, babe? Heh, I called yooou babe."

"Goodness," mumbled Hermione. "How much did you drink?"

"Jusht one bottle o' Ogdensh," he said, holding up the bottle as proof. "Seeee?"

"You're going to hate yourself in the morning," she said. "Go to bed, before you cause too much ruckus and stir the professors."

"Make me," he snapped, dropping the bottle to the floor, which, as Hermione found rather thankful, did not shatter, and crossing his arms like a spoiled baby. Hermione sighed exasperatedly and strode over to him.

"If you insist," she said, grabbing his arm and dragging him to his bed. She crawled onto it, hauling his stubborn form up with her. Just as he and she were both up there, he blinked blearily and passed out, right on top of Hermione. "Oof! Malfoy! Come on! This isn't funny! Malfoy! Malfoy wake up! I don't care how randy you are, that is no excuse for—for—for this!" Draco gave no reply and Hermione found herself exhausted with all of the effort she had put in trying to shove his hefty form of her body. "You ass."


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Don't Be Irrational**

**By: acrophobia1322**

**AN:** As I'm sure you're all aware, this story does not correspond with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Sorry it took so long to update. Been busy, busy, busy! Some of you will also notice that I have cleaned out my Authored Stories of all but the ones that I will continue. Basically, the ones that have gotten over five chapters and most of my OC based stuff. Ahem, so without further adieu, chapter eleven.

**Chapter Eleven**

Hermione was growing impatient as she lay pinned beneath the muscular frame of Draco Malfoy. She had managed to cross her legs, though slightly painfully, and was fidgeting slightly. She had spent a good portion of the night refusing to sleep and thinking of the best plan of attack for when Draco awoke. She wondered whether he would be bothered that she was in his bed with him, though she was fully clothed, and debated on if she would torture him over the subject or not.

After a few moments of silent thinking, she turned her head slightly and eyed the clock on his bedside table. 7:22 AM. Hermione let out an aggravated sigh and tried to push Draco off of her once more but had no success once again. She gave up and relaxed into the bed, staring rather irately at the ceiling once more.

Suddenly, there was a sound coming from the lavatory and Hermione silenced her breath to hear what it was.

"Hermione?" came Ginny's voice, echoing through the large bathroom. "Hermione, where are you? Malfoy?"

The sounds of footsteps approaching Draco's lavatory doors were distinguishable from where Hermione lay beneath the unconscious boy. There was a knock and then the door creaked open, Ginny's head appearing in the doorway.

"Malfoy, you haven't—Hermione?" squeaked Ginny, staring aghast at the scene before her.

"Ginny, help," Hermione breathed in response. Ginny moved, rather reluctantly, over to the bed, eyeing Hermione, crushed beneath Draco, rather warily. "Help me push him off, please!"

Ginny nodded and tentatively took Draco's shoulder in her hands and pulled. Hermione pushed against his chest with all her might and soon, Draco rolled from Hermione and dropped off the bed and onto the floor with a loud '_thunk.'_ Hermione let out a long breath, grateful to be able to breathe normally again.

"Damn it!" cursed Draco from where he lay on the bed. "What the hell, Granger? Weasley?" He pushed himself off the floor and glared at each of them, looking slightly bemused.

"For Merlin's sake, Malfoy!" snapped Hermione, leaning over the edge of his bed and returning his scowl. "How much do you weigh?" She was rubbing her left arm and the left side of her chest, as they had gone numb from his form crushing her to the bed.

Draco stared at Hermione for a moment, his confused expression still evident on his features. "What are you doing in my bed, Granger?" He smirked. "I knew you wanted me, but I never thought you were the type to take advantage of a drunken man."

"You bloody moron," snapped Hermione, swinging off his bed and fixing her jeans and sweater. "Next time you think about drinking that much, make sure all of your damnable CD's are put away and you silence your room first. I'm not sure if you're aware but your singing greatly resembles a cat being strangled." Draco's eyes narrowed at her comparison. Hermione then turned to Ginny. "Let's head to my room right quick before starting down to breakfast. And Malfoy, before you go saying that I don't have a reputation at stake by this bloody article in Witch Weekly, why don't you try looking at it from my point of view? No woman in their right mind would want to stay a week with you if you weren't the heir to your father's fortune because that's all you've ever been useful for. Your father's money and connections."

Hermione slammed his door behind her as she and Ginny proceeded into her room.

Draco winced, the loud bang of the door slamming had brought on the headache that had lain dormant in the back of his head. He groaned and rubbed his throbbing head, while pushing himself off the cold stone floor. Part of him was still in shock from Hermione's sheer audacity while the other was slowly beginning to boil with long suppressed rage.

Savagely, he through open the lid to his trunk and began tossing things haphazardly out in search of something that would rid him of his horrendous headache. He pulled out a bottled filled with sky blue potion and looked it over. Stamped across the glass was '_Madam Mortisha's Relieving Potion for Hangovers and Other Alcohol Maladies.' _He yanked the cork from the mouth of the bottle and downed a mouthful of the tangy potion. He grimaced at the taste but was relieved to find that it hadn't expired as the headache subsided and the vomit that had been threatening to come up, settled back into the pit of his stomach.

Hermione and Ginny entered into the Head Girl's dormitory. Hermione threw off her sweater, still glaring furiously at the floor. She changed out of her clothes and into a black skirt and white t-shirt. Ginny stood, silently apprehensive, in the corner as her friend changed her clothes. Though the redhead was standing a good distance away, she could feel the hate radiating off of her friend.

"Hermione…" she started, clearing her throat. "Er—what _did_ happen?"

"What do you mean?" questioned Hermione, pulling a pair of socks onto her feet violently.

"Why were you…erm…in…in Malfoy's room, with him…in his bed…alone?" Ginny ventured cagily, fidgeting ever so slightly. Hermione stopped suddenly, her face becoming bright red.

"Oh, Ginny!" she gasped, raising a hand to her mouth. "What kind of things you must suspect of me! It wasn't what it looked like!" Hermione sighed and finished tying the shoelaces of her worn out trainers. "I just came back to the common room last night, tired as all hell, and heard Malfoy singing, though it sounded more like squalling, in his room. When I went to tell him to shut up and go to bed, he told me to make him. Therefore, I did. But he passed out on top of me and well…that's how I came to be in his room, on his bed, with him…alone." Ginny nodded uncertainly and Hermione shook her head. "Well, anyway, that's all over and done with. Let's get to breakfast."

The two girls exited the dormitory and, much to Hermione's anger and Ginny's discomfort, so had Draco. The two heads glared at each other from across the corridor before Hermione stuck her nose I the air indignantly and departed down the staircase and into the common room. Ginny chanced a slightly nervous glance at Draco and then followed after her friend. Draco waited a few moments before starting down the stairs himself.

He saw that Hermione and Ginny were just exiting the common room as he reached the foot of the staircase. He headed toward the tapestry hole as well, pushing past it and heading out. He was no pleased to see that Hermione and Ginny were both standing outside of it, staring at him.

"What are you gawking at?" he snapped at them. He took a step forward and the tapestry rolled down. Draco winced when the corridor exploded with screaming.

"You damned FERRET!" cried Older Hermione, throwing whatever she could get her hands on. She began to let out a string of very unladylike curses just as Older Draco began to retort.

"You ugly, filthy, know-it-all, overachieving MUDBLOOD!" he shot back, ducking a few of the hurled items.

Present-day Hermione let out a perturbed sigh, grabbed Ginny by the arm, and tugged her down the corridor, her body brown-haired head shaking in irritancy. Draco gaped at the two rowing occupants of the tapestry for a moment before rolling his eyes and heading toward the staircases as well.

Hermione cleared her throat as she and Ginny were coming up to the Great Hall.

"Ginny, I would appreciate it if you didn't mention it to the boys," Hermione began, seeming a little uncomfortable, "that you found me in Malfoy's room this morning. They—er—they wouldn't understand and I would rather they didn't get in trouble this year."

"Don't worry, 'Mione," assured Ginny with a small smile. "It'll stay between me and you, okay?" Hermione nodded and pushed open the double doors leading to the Great Hall, which was already full with eating students and staff.

Hermione ignored the whispers and glances she received, obviously related to the article, and sat down between Harry and Ron, Ginny sitting across from Hermione. The brunette was not hungry, but the sight of seeing Harry and Ron stuffing the food into their mouths didn't help. When she joined them, they had stopped and smiled at her, their cheeks bulgingly full of food and, to Hermione, they had resembled chipmunks in a way.

"Very becoming," she murmured to them, before grabbing some toast.

When the double doors opened once more, Hermione looked up and glared at Draco as he crossed the room toward the Slytherin table. Their eyes met and he scowled in return as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Some part of me will be glad when we leave this school and he walks out of my life forever," she growled, biting a corner off her toast rather pitilessly.


End file.
